Plasmon-enhanced four-wave mixing imaging for microdroplet-based single-cell analysis

A high-throughput single-cell analytical technique based on the microdroplet array integrated with the plasmon-enhanced-four-wave mixing (PE-FWM) imaging was developed, which is applicable for the highly sensitive and automatic assessment of the surface receptors of cells. The metal nanoprobes were prepared by simply decorating metal nanoparticles with capturing molecules (antibody or molecules with surface identification function). Owing to the multifrequency selection of lasers via resonating their plasmonic bands, these metal nanoprobes are highly recognizable under the FWM imaging and display high photostability above fluorescent dyes. This PE-FWM imaging technique shows superior to dark-field imaging due to almost no interference from off-resonant species and exhibits the antifade feature that is suitable for long-period cell monitoring. The automated processing of images is available for the analysis of cell heterogeneity according to the cell surface receptors. Emerging applications such as single-cell analysis, bioimaging, metabolite, and drug tracing offer many biological and medical possibilities with broad application prospects.